Why you should check your pockets before washing

Really, you should!

This one has a bit of a back story. Every once in a while I tried to check the filter on our washing machine, which always resulted in failure, as I just couldn't open it. Somehow it seemed constructed in the wrong way, the lid opening just to reveal a slightly movable plastic part.

Yesterday after a long work day I tried again, much too tired to think straight, with the same result plus a bit of spillage, as I had washed before and the feed was still full. I rattled that plastic part a bit, but it just wouldn't move much. I tried to pry it open, but it bent a little and reason got the better of me.

So I closed it again, very tight of course, because there was no gasket visible.

An hour ago, as I returned home from just another long day, I realized, that I had to wash clothes or I wouldn't have anything to wear tomorrow. I started the machine, sat down in front of the computer, reading the news and getting ready for sleeping, when I heard an unusual dripping sound over the noise of water rushing into the machine. I ran to the bathroom to see it leaking from the bottom. I ripped the cover open to see lots of water spilling out from the filter access.

I shut off the machine, but it was of course already quite full, so it continued to spill. I tried jamming the lid tighter, which helped a bit, but not much. I got some pincers and squeezed even more, a plastic lid that is. It still dripped.

So I opened it completely breaking a piece of the lid in the process (and cursing wildly during, after and before), to take a better look, trying to build cofferdams of towels around the spill site - it ran around the backside.

The filter looked the same beside the cracked lid. Already I was planning scenarios to call service, but before that I wanted to take a look at the machine proper. I upturned it, it slid from my hands crashing to the floor (and onto a strategically placed wet towel) reveling its underside, a cheap plastic cover, easily removed.

My hopes rose, as I saw the filter being part of a small intake pump that I could easily access. So I did. And as I removed it, something clacked inside, it sounded like ... coins?

That darned thing was full of corroded metal. That is:
- 2 hairpins
- a piece of a screw
- a Micro battery
- 1 Euro
- 5 Cents

I take responsibility for everything except the hairpins. In fact I think we are lucky that all that metal didn't jam the intake pump.

Now why did it just start to leak today? When I tried to open the filter yesterday, I lifted its gasket just enough for a piece of metal to settle in between. The reason I could not open the filter in the first place, were of course the metal parts.

Damage is minimal by the way. The bathroom floor is full of water (so it won't have to be wiped for a while, hooray!) and I touched the corroded battery and slightly burned my fingertip(washed them in vinegar to neutralize the base, now they smell like salad).

Lesson: Check your pockets before you wash!